Thread: speaking to kids

hi, i have a 9 year old thai step daughter and when i am with her we can get by with me knowing the odd thai word and sentance, hand signals, facial expressions etc. however, when im away from her and speaking on the phone all i can really say is :

hello
how are you?
what you doing?
where have you been?
have you eaten?

this doesnt make for a great conversation with a young girl who has been dragged away from her cartoons!

can anyone suggest please some nice / interesting / funny things that i could use?

please write in english but how it would be said in thai (i cant read thai)

any help would be much appreciated. thanks

Originally Posted by cosmo

have you eaten?

Thais love talking about food..learn some foody expressions and names of food..

Learn food and you're 50 per cent fluent in the bastard language..

The Se-Ed bookstores sell flashcards (postcard-size learning cards) at various age/language levels, though the best ones I've bought came from the airport - pics on cards with English word or short phrase on one side, on the reverse Thai script and its English pronunciation.
Don't know re a 9 yo, but 5yo likes to test me with the Thai, and loves to 'show off' if we have English-speaking visitors.

Originally Posted by cosmo

, when im away from her and speaking on the phone all i can really say is :

hello
how are you?
what you doing?
where have you been?
have you eaten?

this doesnt make for a great conversation with a young girl who has been dragged away from her cartoons!

Not being funny, but that pretty much covers the telephone conversation with any 9 year old who has been dragged away from cartoons - irrespective of language ability. Throw in a "Daddy loves you" (or your equivalent) and you are pretty much done.

Originally Posted by nidhogg

Not being funny, but that pretty much covers the telephone conversation with any 9 year old who has been dragged away from cartoons - irrespective of language ability.

Both my kids speak english and Thai and when I am away I rarely speak to them on the phone other than a quick love you. I think they got the phone gene from me and not from their mother.
I am the same and spend as less time talking on a telephone as possible when dragged away from the TV. Say what I have to say and get off the foking thing.
Unlike many weman who will spend a hour talking to someone they will vist that day.

Originally Posted by cosmo

hi, i have a 9 year old thai step daughter and when i am with her we can get by with me knowing the odd thai word and sentance, hand signals, facial expressions etc. however, when im away from her and speaking on the phone all i can really say is :

hello
how are you?
what you doing?
where have you been?
have you eaten?

this doesnt make for a great conversation with a young girl who has been dragged away from her cartoons!

can anyone suggest please some nice / interesting / funny things that i could use?

please write in english but how it would be said in thai (i cant read thai)

any help would be much appreciated. thanks

I teach conversational English in a Thai Government school, and have for 4 years. I invented a fictional pair of children named Mary and Sally. Every week Mary and Sally have a different conversation in English. Each child gets a paper copy of the conversation with some pictures on it that usually refer to what the fictional children are discussing. With the help of a Thai speaking teacher, I make sure they understand the subject of the conversation, then pair the children off, and 2 at a time they recite (reading) the conversation in English.

I buy tons of candy, pens, small toys etc. to give each child after they have done it to make the class more fun for them. It's worked well for the 4 years I've been teaching, and the school bosses seem pleased.

You might try that on a more informal basis with your daughter, with your wife's help. I'm assuming you want your daughter to learn English, and you don't plan on being fluent in Thai?

I have a 13 year old Thai step daughter who like most will spend hours on the computer or watching Thai soaps if I dont intervene.
I try my best to insist that English is only spoken at the dinner table which is a challenge I must admit for my wife and daughter.
When my wife and I are briefly back in Australia we chat twice a day with her on a video hookup on skype and I get surprised at times at her progress.
However if dragged away from the TV then the conversation is stifled.
The dinner table I have always believed is the place to chat with the kids without the TV on in the background.

thanks for the answers but i think i have made a giant balls up of my question. sorry!! what i'm looking for is things to say in thai but written in english as i cant read thai. sorry for not explaining very well....

Does she talk Isaan Thai or proper Thai

How will you understand when she replies ?

Let us know the phrases you want to say and we will show you the pronunciation

One example, if she has her front teeth missing as they do at 9 years of age, then say

fun lor

Originally Posted by cosmo

thanks for the answers but i think i have made a giant balls up of my question. sorry!! what i'm looking for is things to say in thai but written in english as i cant read thai. sorry for not explaining very well....

you mean written phonetically